Yesterday was another good day for John at Easter Seals for day care. So far so good! Today he spent the day at home because I leave for work before Easter Seals opened. We planned that Danielle would stop by and see him, but it turned out Jordan would be home early so that wasn’t needed. I also planned to send John to Easter Seals tomorrow, but Jordan only has 1 class and isn’t working tomorrow like she usually does. So since she’ll be home quite a bit I’m not going to spend $95 on Easter Seals. Monday is a holiday so he’ll probably not go again until Wednesday. I’m relieved that it’s going so well though, but also hesitant because that could change on a dime with Alzheimer’s at the helm.
I read an interesting book a couple months ago about Alzheimer’s called “The Forgetting”. One of the things that really caught my eye was that child benchmarks reverse in Alzheimer’s. For example, a child typically sits at 6 months, walks at 1, is potty trained by 3, dresses themselves around 4, and can select clothing appropriate for the weather or an event between 5-7. Those benchmarks tend to occur in reverse as a person declines. While John can certainly dress himself currently, he doesn’t choose clothes that fit the weather and he can’t figure out what to wear for parties or events like that. That makes me think that he might be like a 6 year old in some ways. It’s sobering to say the least. That was one of the realizations that influenced me to start day care. John presents himself well. He looks typical. He chats with people and at a passing glance appears fine. People think he’s doing better than he is because he compensates for his deficits as much as he can. You have to spend time with him to get a better understanding of where he’s at and what he’s able to understand and do independently.
No comments:
Post a Comment